Do I finally get a benefit from Verizon Wireless? (UPDATE)

I’ve had Verizon Wireless service for the past ten years. It’s been a love-hate battle between myself and the company, and the only reason I stayed with the Red Check was because we were on a family share plan and it would have cost too much to bounce to another service.

Over time, I went through several different phones with the company, including my current BlackBerry 8703e smartphone, which I’ve maintained for the past five years. I’ve learned to keep the phones that work, rather than to jump to a new phone every two years just for the sake of jumping to a new phone. I made that mistake once – ONCE – when my old BlackBerry 4000 series phone died, and Verizon sugar-talked me into getting an early version of the Motorola RAZR phone. I blogged two years ago about my adventures with the RAZR phone, and my opinion of the product hasn’t changed since then.

Because of this, I’ve stuck with my current BlackBerry. I even acquired an unlimited data plan so that I can check my e-mail and view my Facebook account and approve my TU blog comments. You know … real simple stuff that doesn’t require a ton of processing power.

But because I purchased the unlimited data plan, I now have an advantage that will not be available to new Verizon Wireless customers.

But here’s the deal. If you have the unlimited data plan now – or if you sign up for it before Thursday, July 7 – you can keep the unlimited plan, even if you acquire a new cell phone in the future. And that could mean the new iPhone 5 or the Thunderbolt or the BlackBerry Bold or any other phone that requires a data plan.

Wow. Is that a loophole for my benefit?

I’m going to re-confirm this later with a Verizon customer service representative. Because if that’s the case, it might actually spur me to wait until September and get one of those new super-powered smartphones and graduate away from my current BlackBerry.

But, like anything else, I have to make sure all the information is correct and accurate. The last thing I need is to sign up for something and then get locked into an ironclad two-year contract and, a few days later, discover that there’s a better phone plan out there and I can’t touch it.

So I’m holding on to an unlimited data plan… and Verizon’s throwing a whole bunch of smartphones my way. Should I dive for a phone now, or wait until later for that iPhone 5 – knowing that I can get that unlimited data plan to my advantage?

UPDATE

This morning, I was able to contact a Verizon Wireless customer service representative, who did indeed confirm that anyone who currently has a Verizon Wireless unlimited data plan right now will be grandfathered in for future phone upgrades, while still keeping their unlimited data plan intact.

So now comes another choice for me. Do I go with an updated BlackBerry Bold, do I get an HTC Thunderbolt, or should I wait until September and snag an iPhone 5?

5 Responses

Jeff had been hearng rumors about them dropping the unlimited plan for awhile. Then on Staurday he finally heard July 7th being tossed around. Though neither of us currently has a smartphone (we aren’t due for phones til the end of July), you better believe we ran into Verizon and switched to the unlimited plan immediately. Though they weren’t confirming anything at the time, the manager said VZW tends to grandfather in existing customers.

I, too, have a love hate relationship with VZW. We’ve been with them since they were Bell Atlantic Mobile. We have 2 plans and six phones. And the price goes up and up and the benefits go down and down. Im almost fed up.

Or, better yet, hope for a phone with a completely vanilla version of Android and badged as a Nexus. The lilkelyhood of this variant showing up on Big Red is surpassingly slim, however, as VZW is the most rigid and locked down of all US carriers and will always want to stick extra crapware onto “their” phones. Luckily, many android are easily rooted (indeed, some manufacturers encourage it) and once you do that you can rid the phone of the horrible V-cast nonsense and the like.

Whatever you do, make sure that buying a new phone on contract will not alter your earlier terms. If it does, consider buying it outright and not on contract. Ask if buying outright makes the monthly bill smaller. If not, why not?

Also, find out if adding the scam known as “tethering” will kick you out of your currently grandfathered data. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but 3 of the 4 major US carriers (T-Mo is the notable exception) charge you extra if you want to tether your laptop to the network via your phone. Hey guys, I have data flowing to and from the phone, what business is it of yours on which screen it ends up?

I swear, the era of dumb pipes cannot come quickly enough…

And Chuck, please tell us if your monthly bill went down after the two year contract for this BB expired and you kept it. I suspect that it did not. If not, why not? You entered into a contract and got a subsidised phone. Presumably the subsidy was “paid off” after 2 years. So surely the price for service should go down, no?

Rant over. Thanks, I feel a little better.

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